Business Jet Traveler

Shoppers at Sam's Club, the warehouse chain owned by Wal-Mart, tend to load up their carts with bargain-priced consumables like potato chips and toilet paper as well as flat-panel TVs and computers. Recently, though, one buyer made a somewhat larger purchase from the club: a Cessna Citation Mustang jet.

Brazilian manufacturer Embraer is evaluating one or two "mid-light" and "mid-size" jets to fill the market gap between its Phenom 300 and Legacy 600. However, a company source said an official announcement isn't likely before fall.

What you'll pay for air charter varies not only by aircraft but by region. Here are the average per-hour rates for popular aircraft nationally and in the North Central U.S., now and a year ago. Look for price data for other parts of the country in future issues.

You're getting where you need to go-most of the time, at least. But what about everyone else in the company who needs to fly? Is the corporation missing opportunities? Are you paying too much for aviation services?
It can be challenging for top management to answer such questions. Here are 10 rules to follow to ensure that your flight department is operating effectively.

Miami is often called the unofficial capital of Latin America. During the last 25 years, it has taken on a much greater international flavor and cemented its place as a hub of finance, trade and transportation. The metropolitan area's airports have played a big role in this growth.

If a desire to see the world helped entice a young Hank Cintron to sign up for military service, it's a good bet that he wasn't disappointed. He joined the Army from an ROTC program at the University of Puerto Rico at age 21 in 1975, and by the time he retired as a lieutenant colonel two decades later, he had worked everywhere from Venezuela and Nicaragua to Germany and Kuwait.

Stand in a trout stream holding a fly rod for as many hours and days as the patience of your partner back home and the indulgence of your boss, employees or stockholders will permit. Sooner or later, you'll catch a spotted porpoise of a fish so improbably outsized for the shallow confines of the freshwater creek where it swims that you won't believe it.

Cessna was late to the very light jet party. When the company first announced the Citation Mustang, in 2002, it refused to call it a light jet. Cessna CEO Jack Pelton to this day refuses to label the airplane a VLJ and instead describes it as a "downward defense of the product line."